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Toronto accountant Ryan Dyment is the founder of the Institute for a Resource-Based Economy, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable methods of manufacturing and consumption.

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Ryan Dyment believes the world has sufficient consumer goods, food and wealth to go around, but “we need to rethink how we manufacture and distribute physical goods in a sustainable way,” he says. His nonprofit organization, Institute for a Resource-Based Economy, tries to do its part. It operates four locations of the Toronto Tool Library, one of which is combined with The Sharing Depot, which opened last year. Customers pay for memberships and borrow saws, drills, camping equipment, games and toys when they need them. They get access to a woodshop, a 3-D printer and a laser cutter.

Dyment was just coming off a marathon audit season at KPMG in 2009 when he saw the film Zeitgeist: Addendum, which introduced him to this socioeconomic theory.It changed his world view so much that he quit his job.

With a business partner, he founded the nonprofit in 2011 and opened the first tool library two years later. As the organization expands, Dyment notes his accounting skills give him an edge. “I look at my team and its lack of skills in this area. Anyone can do the numbers, but it’s a confidence thing.”

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